A rainy start!

I had no expectations of the Lofoten landscape and was suitably impressed by the grimness of winter remains here.

A bleak but equally impressive landscape. It reminded me of the 'Nordic Noir'-novels and films I so much appreciate.

And then there was light!

An afternoon in SVOLVAER

Svolvaer Church was built in 1934 and seats about 400 people. I did not try to get a look inside.

Svolvær is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality (9,200 inhabitants) in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago.

'Magic Ice' was closed, it would only open when the Hurtigruten boat was in. Pity.

For the same reason this war museum was closed too; it was raining and we could not find anything to visit and find shelter at the same time. The fact that it was a sunday may have played a role too.

We could at least admire one exhibit of the museum.

There is a peculiar grimness to much of the modern buildings in these coastal settlements.

Joakim Jan Aril 'Jack' Berntsen (b.14Oct1940 – d.05Oct2010) was a Norwegian
philologist, songwriter and folk singer.
He was born in Kjøpsvik, Tysfjord. He grew up in Hamarøy, and resided in Svolvær from 1968.
Berntsen founded the Svolvær folk song club Lovisa in 1968, and the Hamarøy music festival Troilltampen in 1973.
He published several songbooks. Det e lys lenger frem was issued in 1976, and Sol bakom skyan was published in 1979. In 1981 he published Ongan i Lofoten, in 1986 came the songbook Lille Bolla Bølla, and his book
Sanga i søkk og kav was published in 1995.
[Wikipedia, more..]

The part of the Hurtigruten cruise has been illustrated and reported on, on a seperate page (link at bottom page)
and we pick up the trail when circumstance forced us to disembark at Harstad and proceed by bus from Harstad to Svolvaer.
We said goodbye to MS Finnmarken while wet snow continued to fall and we would soon find out that the road conditions
would play havoc with our schedules once again!

A military transport shows how their green camouflage has grown a suitable camouflage for the winter conditions.

You have to imagine the howling winds with the image here.

We were stopped by flashing lights: two ambulance units had arrived at the scene of an accident and we found
our way blocked for two hours.

A truck had skidded off the road. The two drivers were reported to have escaped without serious injuries.
The railing had been dislodged and a large section further down had been thrown onto the road, blocking our way.

As one can see the road conditions were serious. Compliments to the drivers of Palmberg Buss for their safe driving

The saturday was to be spent at Svolvaer, either joining excursions of our choosing or at leasure.
I had made reservations for a rental car with Avis, but when I noticed the next morning (after a restful night in the comfortable Rica Hotel) it was still snowing, I decided to cancel that plan. Thank you for understanding, Avis!

Instead of a drive in the area, we explored the streets of Svolvaer once more.
This photo was taken from the comforts of a nice pizza restaurant.

Snow showers continued, but the sun made an effort too.

And indeed, we were also treated on some glorious sunshine!

The library I found to be an excellent escape from the falling snow.
The Svolvaer library has a truly excellent selection of photo books.

Twenty-four hours after our MS Finnmarken had been unable to get into Svolvaer we noticed, with somewhat mixed feelings, how another Hurtigruten vessel docked in Svolvaer in peaceful conditions.

We had an early morning transfer to the airport; the 2.5 hours busride was blessed with the best weather we'd had all week. The early morning light showed the landscape in yet another perspective, the 4th I'd witnessed (one was in the dark of night with rain and snow so photography wasn't really much of an option then).

Just a bit of rock.

A reindeer forced off the road by our bus. It had used a roadbridge to cross a river. Smart.

Iced up trees were being defrosted in the early morning light. Magic.

Truly an inspiring landscape. Hope to return some time in the summer!